Almaz Ayana

Almaz Ayana Eba (Oromo: Almaaz Ayyanaa Eebbaa; Amharic: አልማዝ አያና ኤባ, born 21 November 1991[4]) is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Almaz is a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist earning a bronze for the 5000m in 2013, gold at the event in 2015 as well as gold in the 10,000m and silver for the 5000m in 2017.

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by her given name, Almaz, and not as Ayana.
Almaz Ayana
Almaz at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing
Personal information
Born (1991-11-21) 21 November 1991
Wenbera,[1] Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia[2]
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight47 kg (104 lb)[3]
Sport
CountryEthiopia
SportAthletics
Event(s)Long-distance running
TeamNN Running Team (2022–)
Achievements and titles
World finals
  • 2013 Moscow
  • 5000 m,  Bronze
  • 2015 Beijing
  • 5000 m,  Gold
  • 2017 London
  • 5000 m,  Silver
  • 10,000 m,  Gold
Olympic finals
  • 2016 Rio
  • 5000 m,  Bronze
  • 10,000 m,  Gold
Personal best(s)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2016 Rio de Janeiro10,000 m
Bronze medal – third place2016 Rio de Janeiro5000 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2015 Beijing5000 m
Gold medal – first place2017 London10,000 m
Silver medal – second place2017 London5000 m
Bronze medal – third place2013 Moscow5000 m
Diamond League
First place20165000 m
African Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 Marrakech5000 m
Representing Africa
Continental Cup
Gold medal – first place2014 Marrakech5000 m

She broke the 10,000 metres world record, set in 1993, while winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympics and held it until 2021. At the 2017 World Championships in London, Almaz won the title in the 10,000m, finishing 46 seconds ahead of the runner-up. She places third in both the 5000m and 10,000m on the respective world all-time lists. In 2016, she was voted IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year.

Almaz set the fastest ever women's marathon debut at the 2022 Amsterdam Marathon.

Early life and background

Almaz Ayana was born in Wenbera, Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia.[5] Born the seventh youngest of nine siblings, she started running at local school around age 13–14.[6] Like other notable athletes such as Fatuma Roba and Derartu Tulu, Almaz is also Oromo descent.[7] In addition to her native Oromo language,[8] she also speaks Amharic.[9] The name Almaz means 'diamond' in Amharic.

Almaz is married to her childhood friend and longtime partner, Soressa Fida.[5] She is a devout Christian.[5]

Career

2013–2014: World 5000 m bronze in Moscow

At age 21, Almaz won a bronze medal in the 5000 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics held in Moscow, Russia.

At the 2014 African Championships in Marrakech, she defeated favourite Genzebe Dibaba to take the title in a championship record time of 15:32.72.[10] One month later at the Continental Cup held also in Marrakech, she won the 5000 m by over 24 seconds.[11]

2015: World 5000 m champion in Beijing
At the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, Almaz won her first world title with a 5000 m victory.

In May 2015, Almaz ran a personal best of 14:14.32 over 5000 m at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, China, improving significantly upon her previous personal best of 14:25.84 set in 2013 in Paris.[12][4] This made her the third fastest female athlete over that distance, behind compatriots Tirunesh Dibaba, the world record holder, and Meseret Defar. At the Beijing World Championships in August, she put on a stunning display of front-running to win the 5000 m final with a time of 14:26.83, setting a new championship record in the process and beating silver medalist Senbere Teferi by more than 17 seconds with Genzebe Dibaba in third.[13]

2016: Rio Olympic 10,000 m champion with a world record, bronze at 5000 m

On 2 June 2016, Almaz set a new personal best in the 5000 m in a time of 14:12.59 at the Rome Diamond League. This made her the second fastest woman ever at this distance, behind only Tirunesh Dibaba's world record of 14:11.15, and established a new circuit record. Later that month, she ran the 10,000 metres competitively for the first time at the Ethiopian Olympic trials in Hengelo, Netherlands.[14] She posted the fastest ever debut time of 30:07.00, defeating Tirunesh Dibaba and moving up to eighth on the world all-time list..[15]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics held in August in Rio de Janeiro, Almaz set a world record of 29:17.45 in the 10,000 metres, topping Chinese athlete Wang Junxia's 23-year-old world record by 14 seconds.[16][17] No one previously had run within 22 seconds of Wang's record.[18] The 10,000 metres was already an extremely fast race when Ayana broke away with 12 laps to go. Second-placed Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya finished just a second shy of Wang's record and double Olympic 10,000 metres champion Tirunesh Dibaba earned the bronze medal with a 12 seconds improvement on her personal best and the fourth fastest time in history. Multiple national records were set, and eighteen competitors set personal bests.[19] The lax drug testing regime in Ethiopia[20] and the doping scandals that embroiled athletics before the Rio Olympics caused some to question whether Almaz had been doping.[21] British commentators Brendan Foster and Paula Radcliffe, both former world record holders in distance events, were skeptical about Almaz's performance.[17] Fellow competitors reported that before the race, the Ethiopian was coughing and did not seem well.[22] In her post-race press conference, Ayana said her time was purely the outcome of hard training.[23]

2017: 10,000 m gold and 5000 m silver at the London World Championships
Almaz celebrates her 10,000 m win at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London.

On 5 August 2017, she won the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in London with a world-leading 30:16.32, before adding a silver for the 5000 metres eight days later.[4]

2018–2022: Injuries, motherhood and comeback

The Ethiopian distance running star took almost three years off due to injury problems and pregnancy. Almaz started competing again in April 2022.[4]

On 16 October 2022, the 30-year-old made the fastest ever women's marathon debut of 2:17:20 at the Amsterdam Marathon to win the race and defeat her old-time rival Genzebe Dibaba by 45 seconds. Almaz beat the course record by almost 40 seconds, setting a Dutch all-comers' record (best performance on country's soil) and putting her seventh on the world all-time list at the time.[24][25]

Recognition

Achievements
Almaz (second from the right) races in the 5000 heat at the 2017 London World Championships, where she won silver in the final and gold for the 10,000 m.

Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

International competitions
Representing  Ethiopia
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2010 World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 5th 3000 m st. 9:48.08
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 3rd 5000 m 14:51.33
2014 African Championships Marrakech, Morocco 1st 5000 m 15:32.72 CR
Continental Cup Marrakech, Morocco 1st 5000 m 15:33.32
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 1st 5000 m 14:26.83 CR
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3rd 5000 m 14:33.59
1st 10,000 m 29:17.45 OR WR
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 2nd 5000 m 14:40.35
1st 10,000 m 30:16.32

Personal bests
SurfaceEventTime (h):m:sPlaceDateNotes
Track 3000 metres8:22.22Rabat, Morocco14 June 2015
5000 metres14:12.59Rome, Italy2 June 20163rd of all time
10,000 metres29:17.45Rio de Janeiro, Brazil12 August 20163rd of all time, previous WR
Road 10 kilometres32:19Luanda, Angola31 December 2010
Half marathon1:05:30Lisbon, Portugal12 March 2023
Marathon2:17:20Amsterdam, Netherlands16 October 2022

Circuit wins and titles, National titles

References
  1. Haileegziabher Adhanom. 'This is just the beginning' Ethiopia's distance queen Almaz Ayana insists. August 7, 2017. Association Internationale De La Presse Sportive.
  2. "Rome: Ayana, the feather of 5000 meters". IAAF Diamond League. 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  3. "Almaz Ayana". Rio2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  4. "Almaz AYANA – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  5. 'This is just the beginning' Ethiopia's distance queen Almaz Ayana insists, 8 August 2017
  6. Ayana remains optimistic in countdown to Doha, 23 July 2019
  7. Uncommon courage at Rio Olympics: Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa risks it all for his people, 22 August 2016
  8. Ethiopian runner Almaz Ayana smashes 10km world record in 'insane' opening to athletics in Rio, 13 August 2016
  9. "Women's 10,000: Almaz Ayana Wins in a World Record". 12 August 2016.
  10. Mulkeen, Jon (11 August 2014).More gold medals and records for Okagbare and Bourrada at African championships. IAAF. Retrieved on 15 August 2014.
  11. Ramsak Bob (14 September 2014).Report: Women's 5000m – IAAF Continental Cup, Marrakech 2014. IAAF. Retrieved on 9 June 2015.
  12. "IAAF - Shanghai 2015 Results 5000m W".
  13. "Ayana shatters Dibaba's double dreams". The Japan Times. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  14. Morse, Parker (12 August 2016). "Report: Women's 10,000m – Rio 2016 Olympic Games". iaaf.org. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  15. Mulkeen, Jon (29 June 2016). "Ayana wins in Hengelo with fastest 10,000m debut in history". iaaf.org. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  16. "Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia wins first track gold medal at Rio 2016 and shatters 10,000m world record". rio2016.com. 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  17. Ingle, Sean (12 August 2016). "Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana smashes 10,000m world record on way to gold". theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  18. Schofield, Daniel (12 August 2016). "Almaz Ayana insists 'my doping is my training, my doping is Jesus' after smashing world record at Rio 2016". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  19. Germano, Sara (12 August 2016). "Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana Obliterates 10,000 Meters Record". wsj.com. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  20. "Ethiopia told to do mass doping tests or face IAAF ban". ESPN.com. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  21. McCann, Allison (12 August 2016). "Did Almaz Ayana Break The World Record By Too Much?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  22. Henderson, Jason (12 August 2016). "Ethiopian tells cynics her Olympic 10,000m win is down to hard training and religious faith". athleticsweekly.com. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  23. Gatward, Matt (12 August 2016). "Rio Olympics: Jo Pavey calls Almaz Ayana's surprise record smash 'the craziest race I've ever been in'". independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-08-14. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  24. "Ayana runs fastest ever women's marathon debut with 2:17:20 in Amsterdam". World Athletics. 2022-10-16. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  25. Henderson, Jason (2022-10-16). "Record-breaking marathon for Almaz Ayana in Amsterdam". AW. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  26. USAIN BOLT AND ALMAZ AYANA WIN IAAF AWARDS, 3 December 2016
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